It wasn’t Kent State’s best game of the season by far, but senior guard Katie Shumate’s double-double led the Flashes past Central Michigan 68-63 Wednesday at the M.A.C. Center.
Shumate had 20 points and a career-high 12 rebounds for KSU. Against Ball State on Saturday, she had 22 points and nine rebounds. It was the second time in her career that she had scored 20 points back-to-back.
The victory puts Kent State in firm control of fourth place in the Mid-American Conference. The Flashes are 7-4, two games ahead of Akron and Western Michigan. KSU trails third-place Toledo (9-2) by two games. Ball State and Bowling Green tied for first with 10-1 records. Kent State plays Bowling Green at 2 p.m. Saturday at the M.A.C. Center and on ESPN3.
Central Michigan is 2-9 in the MAC (4-18 overall) and tied for last place with Ohio.
“I thought our grit at the end was really good, and we started executing our offense a little bit down the stretch,” coach Todd Starkey said. “Katie played really well down the stretch.”
Shumate had 12 points and drew five fouls in the fourth quarter. She scored Kent State’s final 11 points. For the game, she made 6-of-8 shots and 7-of-8 free throws, had two assists and blocked two shots. Her 12 rebounds were second-most by a Kent player this season. First was Shumate’s 13 against Ohio.
Kent State led 30-27 at halftime after a first half that saw neither team lead by more than six points.
Central Michigan started the second half with a 13-2 run and led 50-42 with 5:45 to go in the third quarter. But Kent State finished the quarter on a 17-4 run of its own.
At a timeout in the middle of the third quarter, things “got a little heated in the huddle,” Starkey said in his postgame radio interview with Tyler Henry.
“I looked them in the eye and had a few choice words to say to them,” he said. “I really challenged their level of toughness because we were kind of sleepwalking there. And the team responded.”
Corynne Hauser had 14 points for the Flashes. Hannah Young had eight, including two key putbacks. One came at the buzzer in the third quarter to cap KSU’s comeback. The other came in the fourth quarter when Central had cut KSU’s lead to three. Young also had five rebounds, three steals and a blocked shot.
Clare Kelly also had eight points for the Flashes and Lindsey Thall seven, along with three blocked shots.
Numbers
- Kent State made 47.1% of its shots, six points above its average, but just 26.3% of its 3-points. Central Michigan shot 38.5% from the field and 26.7% from 3-point distance.
- Central outrebounded KSU 43-29 and had 21 offensive rebounds. The Chippewas scored 15 second-chance points to Kent’s six.
- CMU’s Rochelle Norris, the MAC’s tallest player at 6-5, had 16 points, 12 rebounds and blocked two shots. Sydney Harris, the league’s top-scoring freshman, had 19 points, two above her average.
- Kent State struggled against Central’s full-court press, especially in the third quarter, and committed 17 turnovers for the game. The Chippewas had 18 turnovers of their own. Central outscored Kent on points off turnovers 18-16.